Senior Advisor to Chart Industries (Former President, Chief Executive Officer and Director)
Jillian C. Evanko serves as Senior Advisor to Chart Industries, supporting the company through its acquisition by Baker Hughes. She previously served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Chart Industries, where she led the company’s transformation into a global leader in energy and industrial gas solutions. In her advisory role, Jill continues to support strategic continuity, customer and partner engagement, and integration readiness through close of the transaction.
Gerald F. (Gerry) Vinci
President, Chief Human Resources Officer
Gerald F. Vinci is our President and Chief Human Resources Officer and has served in the CHRO capacity since December 5, 2016, when he joined the Company. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Vinci held various executive Human Resources roles at Dover Corporation from February 2013 to November 2016, including Vice President, Human Resources for Dover Engineered Systems and Dover Refrigeration and Food Equipment Segments. From 1997 to 2013, Mr. Vinci served in numerous Human Resources executive roles and as Senior Counsel for Harsco Corporation. Prior to that, Mr. Vinci was an attorney for Sunoco, Inc.
Brad Babineaux
Senior Vice President, Executive Operations
Brad is Senior Vice President of Executive Operations. Prior to this role, he was Vice President of Operations for North America, President of our E & C FinFans segment and served as VP & GM, Brazed Aluminum Heat Exchangers and Cold Boxes which includes the LaCrosse, Wisconsin, New Iberia, Louisiana and Franklin, Indiana locations. He was a team member and key contributor to the Chart Special Operations team since its inception in 2018. Brad has been with Chart since 2005 and also served in the role of General Manager of Energy & Chemicals New Iberia, Louisiana facility. Brad is a graduate of Park University and has completed courses at both Georgia Institute of Technology in Lean Manufacturing and Louisiana State University in Executive Development.
Joseph Belling
Chief Technology Officer
Joe is currently the Chief Technology Officer, responsible for Global Engineering, including Project Management tied to the Engineering Execution of the Commercial Order pipeline. Prior to this role he was the Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for strategically and profitably growing both our industrial gas and traditional energy markets as well as expanding our customer touchpoints in new specialty and clean energy markets and applications. Previously, Joe was the President of the Energy & Chemicals (E & C) segment, and held the roles of President of E & C Cryogenics and VP/GM of Chart’s Brazed Aluminum Heat Exchangers (BAHX) business.
Joe began his career as a Sales/Applications Engineer with ALTEC International in 1993. As ALTEC transitioned into Chart Energy & Chemicals, Mr. Belling took on several roles related to commercialization, design and application of BAHX, Cold Boxes, and Core-in-Kettles® in key markets of Industrial Gas, Hydrocarbon and Petrochemical Processing, and LNG.
He also has related experience with Trane, a multi-national corporation specializing in the HVAC industry, where he held roles of increasing responsibility as Product Planning and New Product Introduction Leader for Trane’s Global Parts Division
Joe has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Joe Brinkman
Chief Financial Officer
Joe is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Joe has been with Chart since 1993 and has held various roles, starting his career as a Product Engineer and then the Strategic Sourcing Manager for MVE. His former roles have included Materials Manager , Director of Global sourcing and most recently VP & GM of Bulk Gas Products.
He holds a BS of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of Business Administration, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.
Fred Hearle
President, Europe
Fred is President, Europe, joining in March of 2023, as part of the Chart Industries, Inc. acquisition of Howden.
He joined Howden in 2013 as Managing Director and Leader of the Global Product business. Progressing in 2020 to Executive Director and President of EMENA region with responsibility for the delivery of Howden’s business across Europe, Middle East, and India. Additionally Fred supported Howden’s diversification and growth, providing global leadership of commercial and product strategies in Tunnel & Metro and Metals and Nuclear end markets.
Prior to joining Howden, Fred worked in business development and operational leadership roles with Petrofac and Weir Group specializing in Power, Water, Oil and Gas and Aftermarket services.
During Fred’s career spanning more than 30 years in mechanical engineering, he has amassed expertise including the ability to translate market insights into product development through to successful global commercialization, M&A experience from opportunity development to value realization and delivering profitable growth across a diverse product and business portfolio.
Fred holds a B.Eng. bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, UK.
Herbert G. Hotchkiss
General Counsel and Secretary
Herbert G. Hotchkiss is our Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, serving in this capacity since March 5, 2019. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Hotchkiss spent over 11 years at Truck-Lite Co., LLC as Vice President and Corporate Counsel. Prior to joining Truck-Lite, Herb worked for Blair Corporation as its Vice President and General Counsel. Herb was employed as a Cleveland attorney, working as a corporate associate at Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP and Hahn, Loeser & Parks LLP. Mr. Hotchkiss graduated cum laude from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University with his J.D. in 1996, and he received his LL.M. in Taxation from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1998.
William Payne
President, Americas
William is President, Americas, where he is responsible for regional execution, starting on August 31st, 2025. Prior to this role, William served as SVP of Finance, Americas starting on November, 30th, 2024. Over the last decade, William has worked in the investment banking and private equity industries focused on energy and infrastructure, where he’s been involved in M&A, financings, and capital projects. Before joining Chart Industries in 2024, William served as a Managing Director in the Private Equity Group and Chief Operating Officer of New Fortress Energy (“NFE”). Prior to NFE, William was a member of Fortress Investment Group’s Infrastructure Private Equity Group and he started his career as an investment banker at Scotiabank, focused on the upstream oil and gas sector. William holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Vanderbilt University.
David Newton
Chief Commercial Officer
David is currently the Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for strategically and profitably growing our served markets and customers with our diverse portfolio of products and services as well as expanding our customer touchpoints in new specialty and emerging markets. Prior to joining Chart, David served as President, Advanced Materials at Vibrantz Technologies, a private equity backed specialty chemicals and materials company.
David began his career at MWV Specialty Chemicals (taken public in 2016 as Ingevity Corporation (NYSE: NGVT)), where he spent over 12 years in various commercial, strategy, and general management roles including vice president of corporate strategy and renewable energy ventures from 2020 to 2022, serving as a spearhead for technology scouting and venture investing to drive the company’s growth initiatives.
David held leadership roles at Ingevity, including VP of Performance Materials. He earned an MBA from UNC and civil engineering degrees from Clemson.
Sherry Shi
Vice President, Operations China
Sherry is Vice President of Operations for our Changzhou, China site. Sherry has been with Chart since 2001 in various product management roles. She graduated from Jiangsu University of Science & Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Heat Treatment Technology.
Curtis is Senior Vice President, Operational Excellence & Integration. Curtis is currently responsible for driving operational improvements across Chart and overseeing efforts for integrating Howden into Chart to achieve the expected commercial and cost synergies. Curtis started with Chart in April 2020 as the Vice President of Specialty Markets for Chart where he had commercial responsibility for Chart’s equipment sales in new and emerging markets. Prior to his time at Chart, Curtis held various operational, commercial, and business management roles with Praxair (now Linde) over his 17 years there. He also previously held engineering and operational roles with BP Amoco Chemical and Scott Specialty Gases.
Curtis has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kansas and an MBA from the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Eric Vemer
President - Africa & Middle East, India and APAC
Eric is President of Africa, Middle East, India, APAC, joining in March of 2023, as part of the Chart Industries, Inc. acquisition of Howden.
He joined Howden in 2018 as President, Howden Africa. Eric has overall operational responsibility for the Middle East and Africa (“MEA”) region, covering key growth end markets such as Power Generation, Hydrogen, Mining & Metals, Petrochemical Oil & Gas, and others. Eric’s role includes developing new routes to market and permanent business establishment in the MEA region, improving regional business capacity in alignment with customer needs. He is also focused on key account management, targeted partnering, product portfolio expansion and localization initiatives.
Eric has held several senior management and leadership roles in a career spanning over thirty years. He has worked for businesses in South Africa and Europe, including: Dorbyl - Tubemakers of Australia; ABSA Bank; HSBC Bank plc and Group Five Limited. A Civil Engineer by trade, Eric’s specialisms include OEM manufacturing, industrial sales and marketing, project financing, infrastructure project development, public-private partnerships, multi-disciplinary EPC construction, corporate restructurings, and M&A. He is passionate about living to our values, driving business transformation, sustainability, and firm action to address climate change.
Eric holds a BSC in Civil Engineering and an MBA from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, as well as an Executive Development Diploma in Management and Innovation from Harvard Business School.
Chart's Board of Directors
To view each biography, click on the photo.
Andrew Cichocki
Chair of the Board; Retired COO of Airgas, Inc.
Mr. Andrew Cichocki has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 2023 and Chair of the Board of Directors since May 2024. Mr. Cichocki served as Chief Operating Officer of Airgas, Inc. (“Airgas”) from 2016, and President of Airgas USA, LLC from 2014, until his retirement from those positions in October 2021. He was formerly Senior Vice President — Distribution Operations and Business Process Improvement at Airgas from 2011 until 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Cichocki was Division President — Process Gases and Chemicals at Airgas from 2008 until 2011, President — Airgas National Welders, Inc. (a subsidiary of Airgas USA, LLC) from 2003 until 2008, and Senior Vice President — Human Resources at Airgas from 2001 until 2003. From 1988 until 2001, Mr. Cichocki held various financial, mergers and acquisitions, and business process leadership positions at Airgas, including serving as Vice President — Corporate Development.
Director; Retired Director of Global Stewardship for Schlumberger Ltd.
Paula Harris has over 34 years of experience in international oilfield services with Schlumberger Ltd. Educated as a petroleum engineer with a Bachelor of Science, Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, Ms. Harris initially worked in field operations offshore before progressing into leadership roles in training, sales and ultimately, in environmental-social (ES) sustainability. She most recently served as Director of Global Stewardship for Schlumberger from 2015 until her retirement in June 2020. Ms. Harris led the development and implementation of metrics-based, cost efficient ES programs tailored to meet the local needs of stakeholders, communities and customers. She was responsible for aiding the delivery of the long-term Schlumberger sustainable development goals in carbon reduction, energy efficiency, increased green technology sales and increased female and minority employees. Ms. Harris serves on several privately-held and non-profit boards. She is a founding member of the all-girls engineering school, the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy. In 2020, she received the Women Who Mean Business Lifetime Achievement award from the Houston Business Journal and in 2019, the Women on the Move award from Texas Executive Women and the UN Global Citizenship Award. Paula also has a Master of Education, Technical Instruction and Learning from Abilene Christian University.
Director; Former Vice President Treasurer of Medtronic
Linda Harty is a proven board member and her extensive broad-based experience across finance, accounting, treasury & tax in addition to strategy, capital allocation and M&A aligns well with the strategic direction of Chart. Ms. Harty previously served as Vice President, Treasurer of Medtronic, a global company specializing in medical technology, services and solutions. Ms. Harty also served as Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Group CFO at Cardinal Health in Columbus, Ohio and has held financial leadership positions at RTM Restaurant Group, BellSouth, ConAgra and Kimberly-Clark. Ms. Harty earned her undergraduate degrees in finance and economics from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, and furthered her studies in accounting at Georgia State University. In addition to Chart’s Board, Ms. Harty serves on three boards of directors, Parker Hannifin, Wabtec, and Syneos Health.
Director; President of Production and Automation Technologies at ChampionX
Mr. Mahoney is President of the Production and Automation Technologies business at ChampionX (NASDAQ: CHX), a leading provider of production technologies for the upstream and midstream oil and gas markets, where he has led the global artificial lift business since 2012. Mr. Mahoney’s career includes business development/engineering, management and executive leadership for technical solutions with industrial-based industries that are directly involved in energy production of energy-related materials. His areas of focus have been centered around delivering productivity through technology in mechanical or electrical forms for manufacturing and energy production businesses all around the world. Previously, Mr. Mahoney was president of Dover Artificial Lift, part of the Energy segment within Dover Corporation. He also served as Chief Operations Officer for Dover and as senior vice president of global sales and operations for Dover Artificial Lift. Before joining Dover Energy, Mr. Mahoney held a variety of sales and management roles at Emerson Electric Company, a global technology, software and engineering company, including vice president and general manager of the Analyzers Group, vice president, global sales and operations for the Analytical Group, and director of sales for the process automation group.
Director; Retired Executive Vice President and CFO of Oshkosh Corporation
David M. Sagehorn has been a member of our Board of Directors since May 2019. From 2007 to April 2020, Mr. Sagehorn served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Oshkosh Corporation, a global producer of specialty trucks, truck bodies, and access equipment used in the defense, construction, and services market. Prior to his role at Oshkosh, he served in various other capacities including as Director – Business Development, Vice President -Defense Finance, Vice President – McNeilus Finance, Vice President – Business Development, and Vice President and Treasurer.
Mr. Stiles currently serves as a Group President of Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK), a global leader in Medical Technologies (“Stryker”). As Group President, Mr. Stiles oversees the Orthopaedics and Spine business and is also responsible for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Canada. Stryker’s mergers and acquisitions function, global real estate function, and Digital, Robotics and Enabling Technologies also report into Mr. Stiles where he has been in this role since August 2019. Prior to his current position, he served as Group President, Neurotechnology, Instruments, and was responsible for worldwide performance across the Instruments, Neurovascular, Craniomaxillofacial and Spine operating divisions. Earlier in Mr. Stiles’ 24-year career in Medical Technologies, he served as a division President for both Stryker Instruments and Stryker Spine along with a variety of Marketing and Sales roles.
Roger Strauch is chairman of The Roda Group, an early-stage venture capital group focused on investment opportunities that address the consequences of climate change, stress on the Earth's natural resources and the increased demand for low carbon energy. Mr. Strauch has incubated and developed technologies sold to HP, Logitech, and American Greetings. Mr. Strauch is the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cool Systems, the manufacturer of Game Ready, a medical physical therapy system, which was sold to Halyard Health in 2018. He was CEO and former chairman of Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) a leading search engine on the web. Mr. Strauch recently served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley. He is a member of the Engineering Dean's College Advisory Board of University of California at Berkeley and is the recipient of the 2002 Wheeler Oak Meritorious Award from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Strauch is a member of the Madison Council, a philanthropic advisory board to the Librarian of Congress. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Northside Center for Child Development, a mental health social services agency in Harlem, New York City. Mr. Strauch earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with distinction, from Cornell University and Master of Science degree from Stanford University, both in electrical engineering. He holds two patents in the area of wireless communications.